Shinto, Buddhism and the State in Japan

When Buddhism reached Japan from Korea in the 6th century, it did not replace Shinto. Instead, the two blended for over a thousand years in a system called shinbutsu-shugo, in which kami were often understood as local manifestations of buddhas and bodhisattvas, and temples and shrines shared grounds. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the new government ordered the separation of Shinto and Buddhism and promoted 'State Shinto', which presented reverence for the emperor and shrines as a patriotic civic duty rather than a religion.

This system supported nationalism and militarism up to 1945. After Japan's defeat, the Allied occupation's Shinto Directive of December 1945 ended state support, Emperor Hirohito's 1946 rescript renounced the idea of his divinity, and the 1947 constitution separated religion and state. Visits by politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals, remain controversial with China and South Korea. This history shows how religious ideas can be used by states.